A Helping Hand - One-Shot
by annieplus7
Summary: Levy's far along in her pregnancy and among her newly found habits of forgetfulness and odd cravings, Gajeel has been her rock to rely on. While he has accepted his paternal role, he is determined to follow through with his promise to never leave his script mage's side. Literally.


"Levy! C'mon!" he called. Fairy Tail's iron dragon slayer had tried to remain patient with his wife. He had been standing by the front door of their home for a full twenty minutes watching his little shrimp run through the rooms collecting her things to go into town. Of course, being as far along in her pregnancy as she was, she forgot everything.

"I can't find my shoes!" she called back from their bedroom.

He looked down at the red strapped sandals she had handed to him moments earlier, and smiled to himself.

"Here, Shrimp," he held her shoes up in display as she had found her way to the front door.

She must have been feeling good today because she chose to wear her favorite orange dress instead of her usual low riding sweats. As the weeks wore on, she had developed an intense dislike for anything that was mildly binding or textured on her skin. She insisted the material in all her outfits were itchy, which had actually given Gajeel the blessed opportunity to watch her wander around their home in nothing but her said sweat pants.

Her cheeks had taken on a rosy tint of chagrin as she approached him. She placed her hands on top of her round belly, not meeting his eyes.

"I'm forgetting again, huh?" she asked.

He reached out and gently took her chin in his hand, making her look at him and gave her a reassuring smile.

He set her things on the floor and knelt behind her with her red sandals in hand. He felt her small hand rest against his shoulder for balance when she lifted her foot to the offered shoe. He wiggled the straps over her toes, taking his time to fasten the buckle around her ankle. It was one of the many things she did not have to ask him to do. Anything she seemed to struggle with, he took the initiative to ease her burden; her round, much anticipated burden.

When he stood, he drug his hand up her leg and hip to rest over her stretched belly.

Levy knew it was his favorite thing to do, to feel their baby. She moved her own hand to the opposite side, feeling for the infant's outstretched foot. Not sensing any pressure from within, she figured her little one must have fallen asleep when Levy had run amuck through the house.

"You know, we don't have to go out if you're not feeling up to it," he mused next to her ear, placing a kiss in the curve of her neck.

Levy considered canceling their outing with Lucy and Natsu, but she was restless and she knew Gajeel was suffering with his own pent-up anxieties. What they needed was air.

"No, I want to go. Do you know where my bag is?"

Gajeel picked up the red cross-body pouch and tossed it over his shoulder.

"Okay, let me go grab a book—"

"You packed three," he interrupted.

"My headband is—"

"On your head."

"My glasses?" she asked.

"Got 'em," he patted her purse for emphasis.

"Lucy's draft is still on—"

"Nope. Already grabbed it," he stated.

She narrowed her eyes and thought hard for anything she might have missed.

"Hungry?"

His question brought her out of her reverie and her stomach growled in response.

"I guess it's good that it's lunchtime," she remarked sweetly.

He sighed and opened the front door for her.

"Breakfast, Shorty. We're having breakfast."

* * *

Gajeel and Levy had made plans to meet Natsu and Lucy at the guild hall for breakfast. While their their home was not in town, it was still a short walk to the hall.

They entered the hall and were heartily greeted by the white haired, takeover sisters.

"Good morning, Levy! Gajeel! How's the baby?"

Levy settled herself onto the stool at the bar, hooking the heels of her sandals into a low rung. She had not been able to squeeze herself into a table since Master Makarov had them bolted to the floor to discourage Natsu from making the guild hall into another arena.

Gajeel sat next to her and adopted a protective stance, his shoulders rigid. His hovering presence reminded Levy of an over-protective bear. He was uncomfortable having to meet their friends in the guild hall for their extended family had a reputation for destruction and violence; a characteristic that put Gajeel on edge whenever his heavily pregnant wife was within brawling distance.

"Baby is hungry," she answered.

Lisanna had taken to reorganizing the liquor bottles behind the bar before Cana had her way with them, which left Mira to take on the Redfox family.

"What are you hungry for, sweetheart?"

Levy blurted the first thought that would satisfy her immediate craving, "Strawberries, cherry tomatoes, red peppers, and watermelon. Oh! and a little ketchup too, please."

Mira gave her a knowing glance, "Still craving those colors?"

Before Levy could respond, Gajeel interjected, "Oh yes. Last night it was eggs, bananas, and corn."

He gave an exaggerated shudder, feigning disgust and received a half-hearted swat from his wife. They shared a light moment of laughter and conversation before Mira ducked into the kitchen to collect the expecting family's order.

The door to the hall had opened and in came the expected Dragneel family trio. The families greeted one another, exchanging pleasantries and embraces.

"Flame brain."

"Metal breath."

(Or rather, what passed for pleasantries amongst Fairy Tail's more combative dragon slayers.)

"Levy, it is SO good to see you!" Lucy gave Levy's shoulders a much needed squeeze.

Mira returned with their food and greeted the new arrivals in her usual chipper voice. Levy examined the plate of fruit set before her and suddenly found herself repulsed by the meal. She pushed the plate aside and noticed her dragon slayer had been watching her.

"Oi, Demon," he called, not looking away from his script mage, "water."

A glass was retrieved and filled to the brim with lukewarm tap water. He slid the glass to her in a nonchalant manner. He knew she didn't want to draw attention to her abrupt lack of appetite. He recognized her pinched expression as one of suppressed irritation, so Gajeel took over her end of Lucy's one-sided conversation, directing it to a safe topic.

"Haven't seen ya take on any missions in awhile, bunny girl. Dontcha have rent to pay?"

Lucy noticed the switch of tension in her friend, but ignored it to answer.

"Yeah, and Mavis KNOWS jewels are hard to come by with Natsu overdoing every job we go on."

Natsu interjected with his usual passionate denial. Gajeel had a difficult time focussing on the pair's squabbling because his little mage had managed to scamper away wholly unnoticed towards the guild's restrooms. It was a common occurrence for her to have to leave for such reasons, but he could not put it out of his mind.

"–Panthlily returned?"

He returned to the conversation at the mention of his partner's name.

"Lil'? He won't be back for another week at least. He took a job clearing out some vulcans north of here."

Pantherlily had been a great relief for the Redfox family since Levy announced her pregnancy. Gajeel had become useless on missions with Lily since his thoughts were home with Levy. Gajeel was also impossible to deal with when Levy accompanied them on missions, even simple ones, being overbearing and constantly irritated at the slightest inconvenience. They had agreed that it would be best for Lily to go on missions alone. Even though it had already been many months since they last saw the Exceed, they received frequent letters and jewels by mail.

Gajeel was grateful to his friend. So much so that while Gajeel was still building the add-on nursery to his home, he built another spare room out of consideration for his Exceed partner. It was not enough in Gajeel's eyes, but he would make it up to the cat soon.

At the sight of Levy's orange dress rounding the corner from the bathroom, Gajeel jumped to his feet to tend to her. Her face had now become pained and alarm settled inside the giant man. He took her hand and bent down to her level, to look into her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked, trying to keep his tone even.

She had relaxed her expression into a smile, taking deliberate breaths to ease her pain.

"Well, uh—" she was cut off by another contraction and she curled in on herself, unconsciously cutting the flow of blood off to her husband's hand.

"Go get Porlyusica. Or Wendy. Hurry!"

* * *

"Why're you all out here?! Go!"

The elderly healing mage arrived at Fairy Tail's infirmary to find all the guild crowded outside the doorway.

"Begone!" she grumbled, waving away mages and Exceeds, much to their displeasure.

"Gajeel you STUPID!"

Fairy Tail's little script mage did her best to control the waves of pain that had begun only a few short hours before. When the pain subsided, she fell back to the nest of pillows behind her.

"S-sorry," she panted.

Her flustered, and recently smacked, spouse sat on the edge of the bed with her, her hand engulfed in both of his.

"Don't apologize. Ya need to breath. I don't care about the words that come out, just breathe!"

He was obviously concerned for her and had managed to take every hit the little mage doled out to him. Porlyusica noticed the room had suffered some kind of distress, but ignored it and rummaged through her bag to examine the pregnant woman. She called for one of the Strauss sisters, whom she had expected to be waiting nearby, and ordered her to fetch warm water and towels. But before the mage could leave, a strong contraction had Levy bowed in pain. She screamed for its duration and the door to the infirmary slammed shut, cracking the sheetrock surrounding it.

Porlyusica jumped at the sudden lash out of magic and addressed the pale dragon slayer.

"How long has that been happening?" she asked incredulously.

The contraction released and his wife relaxed once more, gasping for air.

"Uh..." Gajeel tried to think quickly, "15 minutes? Maybe 20?" he struggled to orient himself in the right time frame, but everything seemed to have been moving at a slow pace.

The healing mage's eyes widened.

"Run girl! Water, towels, and a knife! Go!" she barked as Mirajane ran out the door.

"Hope you're not afraid of blood, boy," she quipped, positioning herself at the foot of the bed.

Gajeel had no response for Levy had clamped onto his hand to ride out another contraction.

"Push girl! _Push_!"

Levy did as the healer demanded. She was vaguely aware of Mirajane's return, but grew more concerned when Lisanna and Lucy appeared. She relaxed, exhausted and sweaty. Her heart beat so loud in her ears she did not hear the argument Porlyusica was having with Gajeel.

"Leave, boy! The girl's and I will handle it."

Lisanna had taken sheet and draped it over Levy's belly and legs. Bunny girl even pushed him aside.

"Gajeel, you'll be in the way. Just wait outside with everyone," she put more gently.

He certainly didn't want to be in the way or impede their progress, but he promised he would not leave her side. Besides, what was there to know? He could do the job just as well as bunny girl.

He forcibly moved Lucy to the side, ignoring her protests, and resumed his position next to Levy, taking her hand in his. The healing mage scowled at him, but he did not move.

Levy had sat up again, her head nearly touching her knee with the force of the next contraction. She whimpered and gritted her teeth, forcing herself to bear down. Gajeel had taken to squeezing her hand when she squeezed his. The point of contact was a great reassurance for her.

When she flopped back onto her pillows, she noticed Gajeel was not looking at her. He was looking at Porlyusica. The pink haired woman was off to the side, huddled over. Levy could not see what she was doing, but she was rewarded with the sound of a weak, mewling infant. A squirmy baby, bundled in a unfamiliar blue blanket came into sight when Porlyusica placed the child in her arms.

"Congratulations, it's a boy."

* * *

It had been a few days since the newest member of Fairy Tail arrived. Everyone had come to congratulate the family. Except for Pantherlily.

The Exceed arrived home only to find it empty. Slightly disappointed, he flew to Fairy Tail's guild hall, changing into his larger form to open the door.

Upon entering, it seemed as though every member had showed up at the hall and all eyes looked to him. No greeting was offered to the Exceed, but it's people parted to reveal his partner and spouse sitting at their usual table.

It took a matter of a few seconds for him to realize the difference of appearance in Fairy Tail's script mage, and upon the discovery he rushed to greet his family.

It was heartwarming to see his closest friend offer such a sincere smile.

"'Bout time, 'Lil."

The iron mage was holding what appeared to be a large cluster of blankets.

"Welcome home, Lily," the short blunette smiled.

Gajeel offered the Exceed the sleeping infant to hold and Pantherlily scrambled to clean his hands on his pants, hesitantly taking the offered child.

An odd sense of wonder and awe fell over his face to see the perfect combination of Gajeel and Levy displayed in such utter sweetness and flawlessness on the face of this sleeping infant.

The little one stirred awake at the change of hands. His eyes were a gentle shade of crimson and eyed the black cat with curiosity. Content with the situation, he fell back asleep.

"What's his name?" he whispered, not wishing to rouse the child.

The little one's parents eyed one another knowingly and laughed at some unknown joke between them.

He offered the child to its mother when Gajeel had gestured for them to speak aside.

Levy could not hold back her smile when she cradled their baby in her arms.


End file.
